sewel †[var. of shewel, something to scare]Hist. or Obs.
n. See 1792 quote.
1770  (1911)  Where any open places intervened [in a hunting fence], they [Beothuks] made use of a sort of sewell, made of narrow strips of birch rind, tied together in the form of a wing of a paper kite.
1792  Sewel [is] a device to turn deer, particularly applied to the feathered line.
1891  In places where the trees grew too stunted, or were too scattered to be available for fences, they placed "sewels," poles on which attached tassels of birch bark flutter and frighten the deer.